"Woo-E-Shan, or Bohea Hills, Province of Fo-kien" by Thomas Allom

Commentary by G.H. Wright

Celebrated for the culture of the most delicious description
of tea, the Woo-e-shan hills are still more memorable by the legends that are
entwined around their picturesque rocks, that are located in their deep and many
caverns, and that are pinnacled on their cloud-capp'd summits. The hilly region
of Woo-e includes thirty-six lofty and conspicuous peaks, situated to the south
of the Tsung-nan, in the district of Keen-ning foo, and province of Fo-kien. Amidst
these grotesquely-formed masses of limestone, the "Kew-keuh-ke," or River of the
Nine Bends, makes its tortuous way, adding fertility and ornament to this singular
landscape ; and every rock, and crag, and cliff, that overhangs its stream, is
allegorized in the poetry or the traditions of the people.

These hills derive their name from a deity named Woo-e-keu, or Prince Woo-e,
who frequently descended from his cloudy mansion, and fixed
his temporary abode on whichever of the thirty-six pinnacles
was most pleasing to him at the time. Who were the objects
of this prince's care and affection, or from what race he
was sprung, does not appear but it is said in the "See-seen-chuen,"
or Traditions of the Immortals, that a prince styled Tseen-kang
had two sons: the name of the elder was Woo; of the younger,
E. To these sons his crown descended; but one only, the elder,
is spoken of as having ever visited his inheritance. His palace,
however, was wholly inaccessible to mortals, standing on the
highest point of a detached and lofty peak, whose sides all
around were completely perpendicular. Whether the mansion
of the mystic monarch still survives, is as difficult to be
ascertained at the present day, as when his majesty occupied
it; for, the "Ta-wang-fung'or Peak of the Great King, also
called the "Tseen-choo," or Pillar of Heaven, has never yet
been ascended.

The province of Fo-kien being once afflicted with a long-continued
drought, so wasting in its effects that the cattle died, the
crops withered, and all nature seemed to droop; looking to
their monarch, who was of the Wei dynasty, the people solicited
his counsel in this dread extremity. The king, condescending
to come amongst his subjects, entered the valley of the River
of the Nine Bends; and, on the great sloping rock that leans
over the waters, as an altar suitable to the God of nature,
made an offering of wine and dried fruits; he sacrificed live
victims at the same time to the genu of the valley, and supplicated
their aid in inducing the heavens to let fall their moisture,
in the fertilizing form of dew or rain. When the ceremony
was ended, an object was discerned in the sky, which, as it
drew nearer, was perceived to be an elf riding on a store,
and moving with rapidity towards one of the peaks, on which
it soon after alighted.

The appearance of this demon was succeeded
by the most refreshing rain; and the bed of the river, which had been completely
dry for some months, was instantly filled with running water. For some time the
genius of the weather remained upon the peak, which has ever since borne the name
of " Seen-ho-yen," the Tower of the Stork and Elf, and under which commemorative
title it is immortalized in the poetry of Choo-he, a celebrated commentator on
the works of Confucius. Within a cavern in the Seen-ho are several large boulders,
entirely detached; these are represented, by the same learned chronicler, to have
once been the tables, and bureaus, and couches of the elves of the rock, secured
from mortal enjoyment by the transformation of their original owners.

In the long catalogue of names, which the fairy forms of
these peaks suggest, many attract by the legends which they
imply. Such are three reddish rocks, a most irregular outline,
called the Peaks of the Jade Lady; the Man-ting-fung, or Peak
of the Curtained Pavilion; and Teeh-teih-ting, or Pavilion
of the Iron Flute. The last of these extraordinary appellations
originated with the Orpheus of the thirty-six Peaks, Leu-keen-taou,
the companion of Hoo-yan, who was constantly roving amongst
the hills and vales of Woo-e, beguiling the time by his melodious
performances on an iron flute. The strains of this mountain-musician
are said to have been just as miraculous in their effects
as those of the Thracian melodist, for the music of the iron
flute "penetrated the clouds, and pierced the flinty rock."

The name Bo-hea, by which the tea of Fo-kien is generally
known, is the corruption, or rather the pronunciation of "Woo-e,"
which is uniformly adopted by the natives of all the Tea provinces.

NOTE

This narrative speaks of Wuyi Shan in Fujian
Province, still a celebrated landmark for tea.